122: Chapter 121 Diudiudiu

Just as Kwon Eunbi was on the verge of a breakdown, Choi Yena beside her suddenly perked up her ears, a confused yet slightly excited expression appearing on her face.

"Unnie! Wait! I think I really hear a sound!"

"Yena!" Kwon Eunbi didn't know whether to laugh or cry, thinking Choi Yena had also started having hallucinations from the pressure. "What sound? Don't scare me!"

"No! Unnie, really, listen!" Choi Yena pulled on Kwon Eunbi's arm, signaling for her to be quiet, and then tilted her head to listen.

Kwon Eunbi held her breath skeptically. Aside from the faint hustle and bustle of the city in the distance and the rustling of leaves in the wind, she seemed to... actually hear something else?

The sound was intermittent, blurred and distorted by the wind, but it definitely existed. Moreover, that sound... was not a natural one. It sounded like... a sales recording being played on a loop through a low-quality loudspeaker, with a flat yet somewhat comical tone.

The sound drifted over with the wind, and the content gradually became clear:

"Twelve Star Palaces—! Twelve Star Palaces—!

The Lion Headgear Factory—! The Lion Headgear Factory has gone bankrupt—!

That bastard, that bastard Lion Saint—! Ran away with her duck—!

We had no choice, no choice—! We could only take headgear as our back pay—!

Headgear originally priced at over three hundred, over two hundred, over one hundred—!

All for twenty bucks—! All for twenty bucks—!

Lion Saint, you scoundrel, you scoundrel Lion Saint—!

You're not, you're not, you're not human—!

We worked hard for over half a year—!

You won't, you won't, you won't pay our wages—!

Give us back our hard-earned money—! Give us back our hard-earned money—!!!"

Kwon Eunbi: "...???"

Choi Yena: "...!!!"

The two were completely petrified on the spot, as if struck by lightning.

What on earth... was all this?!!

Twelve Star Palaces (their background identities).

Lion Headgear Factory (Kwon Eunbi's Leo constellation + that embarrassing "Lion Charge Duck Punch" might need a headgear?)

Gone bankrupt (???).

That bastard, that bastard Lion Saint (Kwon Eunbi: Who?! Who's a bastard?! Who's a Saint?! And since when did insults get this creative?!).

Ran away with her duck (Choi Yena: Duck??? Me??? How did I become a duck?? And 'her' duck???).

Taking headgear for wages, scoundrel, not human, give back hard-earned money...

What on earth was all this?!!

"What... what is all this!?" Kwon Eunbi squeezed the words through her teeth, her cheeks flushed with extreme shame and a sense of the absurd. She, the dignified leader of IZ*ONE and the Leo Star Saint (tentative), was actually being portrayed in the streets and alleys through such a vulgar and catchy advertisement as an "unscrupulous boss who ran away with unpaid wages + a jerk who kidnapped a duck (teammate)"?!

"Unnie... Lion Saint... duck..." Choi Yena was also in a daze. She pointed at herself, then looked at Kwon Eunbi, her small face scrunched up, wanting to laugh (because it was too ridiculous) yet also wanting to cry (because she had become a "duck" and was "kidnapped").

What made them even more overwhelmed was that the gaudily painted mobile truck playing the catchy advertisement happened to drive slowly from the other end of the alley and stopped in a nearby open space. The truck was piled high with colorful animal headgear of various shapes, among which the lion headgear with a golden mane was the most prominent. Beside the truck stood a crooked cardboard sign with marker writing that said: "Clearance! Lion Factory Bankrupt, Headgear all 20! QR code payments accepted!"

The small truck stopped by the roadside not far from them with a "creak." The loudspeaker paused for a moment, and then a middle-aged man wearing a straw hat, whose face was obscured, poked his head out of the driver's cab and shouted in a live version:

"Come take a look! Authentic Twelve Star Palaces original factory headgear! Same style as the Lion Saint! Personally tested by the Pisces Spirit Envoy! You can't go wrong, you won't be cheated! For twenty bucks you can't buy a house or a car, and you can't even travel to Moscow! But you can buy the blessing of the stars! Buy the warmth of a girl with amnesia (?)! Twenty bucks! Everything's twenty bucks! Last half-day! Closing up when they're gone!!"

Even more frustrating was that a group of children playing nearby appeared out of nowhere. Hearing the funny loudspeaker and the sales pitch, they swarmed over, pointing at the crudely made animal headgear (lions, fish, the crab, sheep, etc.) hanging on the truck, which were clearly made of cheap synthetic fibers, and noisily begged their parents to buy them while laughing.

"What is all this!?" Kwon Eunbi felt her temples throbbing, her worldview suffering an unprecedented impact. How could her "Lionheart Sovereign" image be associated with a "runaway Saint who owes wages" and "twenty-buck clearance headgear"?! And "the Lion Saint ran away with her duck"—what kind of demonic lines were those?! The fact that Choi Yena's nickname was "Duck" was actually written into this kind of knock-off advertisement?!

Choi Yena's face was also bright red, half from shame and half because she felt... it was strangely a bit funny? "Unnie... that 'duck'... it couldn't be talking about me, right?" she asked in a low voice, her tone filled with unbelievable absurdity.

Kwon Eunbi didn't answer; she was already so angry (or rather, so ashamed) that she couldn't speak.

"Unnie... are we still going over?" Choi Yena asked hesitantly, looking at the broken truck and the surrounding children. Although the way this "clue" appeared was beyond ridiculous, the keywords like "Twelve Star Palaces," "Lion Headgear Factory," "Lion Saint," and "Duck" were indeed closely related to them. It was hard to say it wasn't a "sound in the wind" arranged by the production team.

Kwon Eunbi stared fixedly at the small truck, her chest heaving. Go over? Go over to do what? Admit she was the "Lion Saint who ran away with the duck"? Or buy that twenty-buck low-quality lion headgear?

But if they didn't go, this was clearly a "clue point" set by the production team. Their task was to find "fragments" and "memories." Could this extremely absurd scene be a so-called "Star Fragment"?

After struggling for a full half-minute, as the loudspeaker began looping the "tragic" story of "The Lion Headgear Factory has gone bankrupt..." again, Kwon Eunbi finally gritted her teeth. A look of reckless determination appeared on her face as she squeezed out one word from between her teeth:

"Let's go..."

Her voice was full of deep resistance, shame, helplessness, and a hint of tragic heroism, as if saying, "I'll see what other tricks Jiang Zhiyu can play."

She pulled along the still-dazed Choi Yena and took a deep breath. It was as if she wasn't walking toward a roadside clearance stall but into some dragon's den or tiger's lair. She took heavy steps, moving bit by bit toward the dilapidated small truck surrounded by children, which was constantly playing the story of the "black-hearted boss running away."

The gears of fate (Jiang Zhiyu's wild imagination) led the "Lionheart Sovereign" and her "duck" (?) toward the center of this street-side farce in a way no one could have predicted.

And what awaited them? Would it be a socially suicidal public execution, or the true "Star Fragment" hidden behind cheap headgear and knock-off advertisements?

In any case, Group D's exploration journey was destined to begin in a way that would be recorded in the annals of history (or the pillar of shame).

Kwon Eunbi pulled Choi Yena along, hardening her heart as she passed through the group of laughing and playing children who were pointing at the cheap headgear, and arrived in front of the colorful, noisy, and dilapidated van.

The boss, who was shouting vigorously, had his back to them, spittle flying as he pitched "Cancer's Guardian Pincer Gloves" (which were actually just ordinary dishwashing gloves with a crab pattern drawn on them) to an older woman. Kwon Eunbi took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the urge to smash that loudspeaker, and forced out a "kind" smile that could be described as distorted. Her voice trembled slightly from suppressed shame and anger:

"Um... Boss-nim..."

The boss turned around at the sound, a professional and enthusiastic smile still on his face. However, when he saw clearly the two young women standing before him—though they were wearing plain casual clothes, their faces, their aura, especially Kwon Eunbi's leader-like presence that she couldn't hide even while trying to smile, and Choi Yena's clever eyes currently filled with curiosity and scrutiny—

The smile on the boss's face instantly froze, his eyes widened into circles, and his mouth hung open, as if he had seen something incredible and extremely terrifying. The "Cancer Pincer Gloves" in his hand fell to the ground with a "thud." He pointed at them with trembling fingers, and a short cry of surprise escaped his throat:

"Ahhh, it's... it's... the Constellation Sai—"

"Saint what?!" Choi Yena reacted extremely quickly, keenly catching the unfinished word. She immediately took a step forward, her tone questioning, "Boss, what did you say?! You recognize us?!"

The boss seemed to realize he had let something slip. He suddenly covered his mouth, his eyes darting around in panic. Then, a more exaggerated but clearly guilty and flattering smile quickly piled up on his face, which had been weathered by life (and Jiang Zhiyu's script):

"Ahaha... beautiful ladies, a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding! I didn't say anything! You heard wrong! Today's goods... ah, they're almost sold out! That's it for today, we're closing up, closing up! See you tomorrow! See you tomorrow!"

As he spoke, he began hurriedly packing up the crudely made headgear and gloves hanging on the stall. His movements were so fast it was as if a ghost were chasing him, and he even wanted to jump into the driver's seat and start the truck immediately.

"Wait!" Kwon Eunbi was quick of eye and hand. She stepped forward in one stride and directly pressed down on the truck's rear tailgate (with considerable strength), while Choi Yena tacitly blocked the driver's side door. The two of them, one on the left and one on the right, sandwiched the boss who was attempting to flee.

"Boss, what do you mean by this?" Kwon Eunbi's voice turned cold. The combination of her leader's authority and her shame gave her gaze a certain pressure. "You clearly recognized us just now! You even said 'Constellation Sai'... what's after that? Could it be that you really know us?! Do you know who we are?!"

Blocked by the two, the boss was sweating profusely and waving his hands frantically, speaking incoherently: "I don't know you! I really don't! I'm just a seller of cheap goods! What constellation, what Saint, I don't understand! Please let me go, beautiful ladies!"

Seeing his stubborn refusal to talk, Choi Yena also got a bit anxious. She subconsciously wanted to use some means to interrogate him, her mind rapidly recalling her vague "setting" and "abilities." But the skills of the Pisces "Dreamy Twin Spirits" didn't seem very useful in this kind of street confrontation... She had a sudden flash of inspiration (or rather, she was forced into making something up). Mimicking the villain in a TV drama, she deliberately put on a stern face and threatened in a low voice:

"Boss! Speak up! Or else I'll use, uh... use..." She got stuck, unable to think of any threatening constellation skill for a moment. In her desperation, she blurted out, "...use my 'secret weapon'!"

She was originally just bluffing, but to the boss, who had already been "spoiled" by the production team, those words automatically translated into something even more terrifying.

The boss's face turned pale instantly, as if he had heard the name of some extremely horrifying move. He suddenly clutched his head, curled up into a ball, and took a standard "head-clutching squat" defensive posture, shouting with a sob:

"No! Don't hit me with the 'Lion Charge Duck Punch'!!"

"I'll confess! I'll confess everything! Don't hit me! I have elders and children to support, I'm just trying to make a living!!"

Kwon Eunbi: "..." (Lion Charge Duck Punch? Has the name of my ultimate move already spread to a place like this? And why is it for hitting "him"?)

Choi Yena: "..." (Charge Duck Punch? What does that have to do with me? And why does it sound like a combined technique of mine and Eunbi Unnie? It even includes my nickname??)

The corners of their mouths twitched uncontrollably at the same time, feeling a deep sense of despair at Jiang Zhiyu's "creative" reach and ability to distort things.

But now was not the time for complaining. Kwon Eunbi suppressed the urge to facepalm and shouted in a deep voice, "Speak! Who are you exactly? Why do you recognize us? And what's with the 'Twelve Star Palaces' and 'Lion Headgear Factory'?!"

The squatting boss (actor) trembled, speaking with a heavy sob (the acting was a bit thick) as he began to "confess":

"I'll talk... I'll talk... Spare me, Lady Saints!"

"We... we were originally just odd-job workers near the Twelve Star Palaces... 'Starry Sky Merfolk'..."

"Starry Sky... Merfolk?" Kwon Eunbi and Choi Yena repeated in unison, their mouths twitching simultaneously, their faces written with "this is definitely Jiang PD's evil naming at work." Starry Sky Merfolk? It sounded like the name of some low-level mob in a cheap mobile game!

The boss continued to spill everything:

"We were responsible for sweeping up Stardust, trimming the Starlight Lawns, polishing and waxing the constellation statues, and things like that... small characters with no status."

"Then... didn't the Star Demon invade recently! The Heavenly Palace was in chaos! Many things were broken or blown away to who knows where..."

"We small characters were also terrified, so... so during the confusion, we secretly took some... um... inconspicuous 'scraps' from the Star Palace that looked like waste, and came down to the mortal realm..."

He pointed at the crude lion headgear, fish-shaped plushies, and small scale pendants on the truck. "It's these things! We definitely didn't steal any important treasures! Really! They're just decorations or defective training props!"

He tried hard to clear his name:

"After we came down, we were in a strange land and had to eat... so we thought about processing these 'scraps' and turning them into something the mortal realm could understand (like lion headgear), to sell for some money, earn some extra cash, and make a living..."

"We're definitely not doing anything bad!! We're just ordinary small vendors! Self-reliant! Getting rich through hard work!"

"Please be understanding, Ladies! We really didn't know you had fallen down too! And we certainly didn't know that 'The Lion Headgear Factory has gone bankrupt' recording would offend you! We just found a template and modified it! It was just to attract attention! We definitely didn't mean to slander you!"

The boss (Starry Sky Merfolk) was all snot and tears (fake), portraying himself as a pitiful low-level worker under the turmoil of the Star Realm, forced to "pick up trash" to sell for survival, full of heartache (and nonsense).